1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to visual display of information and, more particularly, to a method and system for adapting existing drawings and related information for intelligent display on a graphics display monitor or other viewing means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One important application for intelligent visual display of information is in the display of cartographic drawings. For example, in many utility industries easy reference to cartographic drawings can be critical at certain times, such as during a storm induced power outage. As a more specific example, today in the electrical power industry a company will typically have a regional coordination center for handling service interruptions/disturbances in the distribution network. During a thunderstorm or other type of disturbance inducing event, the coordination center will operate as a hub from which service crews are dispatched, primarily in response to customer service calls received either at the coordination center or at a location remote therefrom and forwarded to the coordination center. In most cases, the coordination center will possess many distribution maps of the particular region of responsibility. These distribution maps may be large, extending for example from floor to ceiling and wall to wall.
During a storm, information on each service outage or other serviceable event (i.e., any disturbance in the distribution network) is transferred to the coordination center (e.g., via a communication link with a printer located within the room which prints out a line failure report containing relevant information on the disturbance event, or a physical memo received at the center). Once received, the serviceable event is posted on one of the maps in the room, for example, in the form a colored pin or other type of marker. (Typically, different colors are used to create an approximate chronology of events as a way of sorting a large number of interruptions/disturbances. For example, if a storm begins at 12 P.M., red event markers may be used from 12 P.M.-3 P.M., blue from 3 P.M.-5 P.M., orange from 5 P.M.-5:30 P.M., etc. The length of each interval would depend upon the progress of the storm and the number of service calls received.)
After posting an event marker at an appropriate location on the appropriate map, the corresponding line failure report is usually placed in a bin to await assignment of a repair crew. During heavy storms with significant numbers of power interruptions/disturbances, this tracking system can become unwieldy (if not completely unworkable), irrespective of the number of operators in the coordination center. This is largely because there is no easy connection between a marker on a network wall map and a corresponding line failure report filed in the bin. Consequently, with a large number of service calls, confusion is easily created. At times with a dispatch of a crew, the line failure reports in the bins must be manually searched to locate the appropriate paper record. Prioritization of calls is also often difficult, again, especially if a large number of customer interruption/disturbance calls are received.
One possible solution to the above-noted problems with the existing approach is to computerize coordination center operations by completely digitizing all network maps and combining the digitized maps with relevant customer database information generated by the utility. The problem with this approach, however, is that map digitization can be extremely expensive, since the process is very labor intensive and time consuming. For a typical size utility company, having tens of thousands of distribution maps, the cost of such an approach is prohibitive. Further, creating a digitized map database containing maps of all company territory and facilities would be duplicative of effort already expended by most companies in producing their network drawings. Over the years, most utility companies have compiled thousands of two-dimensional cartographic drawings which show various aspects of their distribution network. Typically, these drawings include a number of different types of maps, such as primary maps, feeder maps, storm maps, etc., all of which are usually hand-drawn. The digitization approach would be unable to take advantage of any of this previous work.
Therefore, a need exists in the industry for a method and system to streamline operation of a utility's coordination center, while still taking advantage of effort already expended in producing maps and other related information.